dico, dixi,
dictum, ere 3, to say, speak; to
sing; in the sense of to think,plan, desire; to praise.

filius, ii, m. a son. Of the Son of God;Of the angels; Of men: children, descendants.. ilii
alieni, strangers.

hodie, adv. today.

gigno, genui,
genitum, ere 3 to beget.

DR

The Lord said to me: you
are my son, this day I have begotten you.

Brenton

the Lord said to me, Thou
art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee.

MD

The Lord hath said to me:
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten Thee.

RSV

He said to me, "You
are my son, today I have begotten you.

Cover

whereof the Lord hath said
unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

Knox

how he told me, Thou art my
son; I have begotten thee this day.

Grail

The Lord said to me:
"You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day.

This verse is specifically applied to Christ by Scripture in Acts 13:

And
we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has
fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the
second psalm, `Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee.' And as for the fact
that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he spoke in
this way, `I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.' (32-34)

It is important, though, to interpret this attribution correctly, in line with the thinking of the Church, for verse 7 of Psalm 2 can be applied to the three 'generations' of Christ: the eternal generation of the Son from the Father; the Incarnation, and his re-birth in the Resurrection.

Cassiororus perhaps provides the clearest explanation for its interpretation in relation to the eternal generation of the three Divine persons:

The Father had been able to designate and implant Him as Creator of the world. By saying this day, He revealed that their majesty was co-external; with God, today has no beginning and is brought to no end. He was not then, He will not be, but He always abides, always is, and the expression this day means any time you mention. So in Genesis He bade Moses say of himself: Go and say to the children of Israel, I am who am. He who is hath sent me to you. So he wanted eternity to be denoted by the present tense. This use of present time (‘today’) is acknowledged to be peculiar to the divine Scriptures in this sense of perpetuity.

The second meaning though, reflected in the Churches uses of this verse as the Introit in the Midnight Mass of Christmas, is in relation to the nativity:

Have I begotten thee signifies the nativity, of which Isaiah
wrote: Who shall declare his generation? He is Light from light, Almighty from
Almighty, true God from true God, from whom and in whom are all things. (Cassiodorus)

St Robert Bellarmine adds the third possible interpretation, namely in relation to the Resurrection, a reading taken up by St Aloysius Liguori and mentioned also in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

...The Psalter gives us the key to prayer in Christ. In the "today" of the Resurrection the Father says: "You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession." [Ps 2:7-8; cf. Acts 13:33]

But I am appointed king by him over Sion, his holy
mountain, preaching his commandment.

Brenton

But I have been made
king by him on Sion his holy mountain, declaring
the ordinance of the Lord:

MD

But I am appointed king by him over Sion, his holy
mountain, preaching his commandment.

RSV

I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill." I will
tell of the decree of the LORD

Cover

Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion. I will
preach the law,

Knox

Here, on mount Sion, my sanctuary, I enthrone a king of my
own choice. Mine to proclaim the Lord’s edict;

Grail

"It is I who have set up my king on Zion, my holy
mountain."(I will announce the decree of the Lord:)

Christ the king

Christ's kingship, the fourth century commentator Theodoret points out, by virtue of his divinity is eternal, and not appointed by anyone. But as Incarnate Son, he has been appointed by the Father to rule the world:

…In
fact he rules not only over Mount Sion but over all things visible and
invisible and over all creation. But on
Mount Sion and in Judea he propounded his divine teachings to those who
attended; those who accepted it derived streams flowing into the whole world
through their obedience to his divine precepts: Go forth, he says, make
disciples of all nations. Now the verse
I have been established as king by him is expressed in human fashion: as God he
possesses his kingship by nature, as human being he receives it by election…

Mt Sion is the Church

Sion, the holy mountain has a wide variety of meanings in Scripture, including signifying the Church and heaven. In this case, though, the Fathers argue that it clearly means the Church. St Augustine, for example, instructs that:

we must not understand it of anything
rather than of the Church, where daily is the desire raised of beholding the
bright glory of God, according to that of the Apostle, but we with open face
beholding the glory of the Lord. Therefore the meaning of this is, Yet I am set by Him as King over His holy
Church; which for its eminence and stability He calls a mountain.

Preaching the Gospel

The final phrase of the verse, teaching the commandments or law of the Lord, is generally interpreted as referring to the Gospel.

Friday, December 29, 2017

Verses 4&5 of Psalm 2 invites us to see the irony in the fate of those who plotted against Christ: those who mocked Christ shall in turn be mocked and condemned, shall be the subject of God's anger and rage.

caelum, i, n.,
or caeli, orum, m. heaven, the abode of God; the heavens as
opposed to the earth; the air; caelum caeli, or caeli caelorum is a
Hebraism signifying the highest heavens, the heaven of heavens.

irrideo, risi,
risum, ere 2 to laugh at, mock.

subsanno, avi, atum, are, to mock, deride, laugh to scorn.

DR

He that dwells in heaven
shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them.

Brenton

He that dwells in the heavens shall
laugh them to scorn, and the Lord shall mock them.

MD

He that dwelleth in heaven doth
mock them, and the Lord doth laugh them to scorn.

RSV

He who sits in the heavens
laughs; the LORD has them in derision.

Cover

He that dwelleth in heaven
shall laugh them to scorn; the Lord shall have them in derision.

Knox

He who dwells in heaven is
laughing at their threats, the Lord makes light of them

Grail

He who sits in
the heavens laughs; the Lord is laughing them to scorn.

This verse points to the ridiculousness of the plot against Christ. Cassiodorus notes that:

...they tried to set up false witnesses against the truth, they preferred to crucify the Lord of glory, and they stupidly sealed up the burial chamber of the almighty Christ.

Their efforts are rendered futile by Christ's triumph, since, as Theodoret points out:

He who was crucified by them and given over to death is heaven, he has all things in his grasp, and he shows their plans to be vain and futile. His Father, Lord of all things, will inflict a fitting punishment on them.

How should we view the idea that God mocks and derides the plotters though? Is this, as some modern commentaries suggest, simply an anthropomorphism intended to convey an idea, but not something to imitate?

God's mockery and the call to repentance

The first point to note is that mockery and derision can be a tool that can make people realise the ridiculousness of their actions. Proverbs 1:20-29, for example, instructs us to heed the warnings given now lest God refuse to help us in a time of crisis:

And all the while Wisdom is publishing her message, crying it aloud in the open streets; never a meeting of roads, never a gateway, but her voice is raised, echoing above the din of it. What, says she, are you still gaping there, simpletons? Do the reckless still court their own ruin? Rash fools, will you never learn? Pay heed, then, to my protest; listen while I speak out my mind to you, give you open warning. Since my call is unheard, since my hand beckons in vain, since my counsel is despised and all my reproof goes for nothing, it will be mine to laugh, to mock at your discomfiture, when perils close about you. Close about you they will, affliction and sore distress, disasters that sweep down suddenly, gathering storms of ruin.It will be their turn, then, to call aloud; my turn, then, to refuse an answer. They will be early abroad looking for me, but find me never; fools, that grew weary of instruction, and would not fear the Lord.

The key, Cassiodorus suggests, is the spirit with which we adopt these tactics: we in our turn must avoid malice and anger, and use ridicule only as a means to advance the cause:

The words, He shall laugh and He shall deride and similar expressions are to be understood as appropriate to our own practice.

God and emotions

The eternal Godhead, though, it should be clear, does not act out of emotion. As Cassiodorus puts it:

But the Lord does not laugh with spleen, nor deride with his countenance, rather he carries out his purposes by his own power in the spirit.

Nonetheless, on the receiving end, we should indeed take note of what is sent to us from God, and as humans, receive it emotionally. The challenge is to use these emotions positively, to push us into right action.

The previous verse pointed to the rebels being made to feel foolish for rebelling against God; this verse points to more serious consequences.

The previous verse pointed out the ridiculousness of plotting against an omniscient and omnipotent God; in this verse derision turns to consequences.

Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage.

Brenton

Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his fury.

MD

Then in his anger he sspeaketh to them, and in his wrath confoundeth them.

RSV

Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,

Cover

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure

Knox

and at last, in his displeasure, he will speak out, his anger quelling them:

Grail

Then he will speak in his anger, his rage will strike them with terror.

The Fathers generally interpreted this verse as being fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans forty years after Christ's death: the vengeance of God for their failure to repent of their rejection of Christ. Theodoret for example says:

The fulfillment of the story teaches us the interpretation of these words: a Roman army assailed them, plundered the city and burnt down the Temple; most of them were put to death, while those who escaped the slaughter were taken captive and reduced to slavery.

In this life, God's anger - the effects of the withdrawal of his grace - can be averted by repentance and penance; there comes a point though where the consequences are unavoidable, for God is justice, as St Liguori points out:

God spoke to the wicked, and confounded them, not by words, but by the terrible punishments that he inflicted on them. We here observe that God never does anything in anger, as men do when they act through passion and with trouble of mind ; for the Lord disposes and does everything with moderation and in tranquillity. Hence, when one reads in Scripture that God becomes angry, we are to understand that he chastises sinners, not to conduct them to eternal salvation, as he often does in regard to some whom he chastises in order to bring them to repentance, but only that he is chastising them solely to punish them, and to give free course to his justice.